WOMAN'S WORLD.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 119, 17 June 1909, Page 4

WOMAN'S WORLD.

lCon.liic:ed by "Lygia"). "WHAT PLOI'LE SAY." It is astonishing how sadly ruled we are by the constant fear of what "people will sav." If is a sickening human weakness, this constant fear of ndverrfe criticism, toi it leads us into one or two at least of the broader .paths that lead to destruction. It is the fear what they will say that causes some of us to ninlic a greater show lli.ui we can honcstiy afford, because we dare not risk being thought "poor." On the other hand, there are people who arc equally anxious not to be thought rich! There are thost, too. who would break out into a more original and often purer and better line I of conilncl, but fear of ridicule sets a brick wall in their parth. And so we go on fearing what that fearful bugbear "they" will say, and we are mean and silly, or eccentric and cranky, and suitor tortures to gain good opinions from the very people whose opinion we ought not to value. Cui liono?—Do we succeed in our endeavor to avoii' ''iikindly criticism? Xo, for it is the pimple who are afraid, and who try and pander to everyone, that are usually thought but little of and sometimes' even spoken of with the greatest contempt.

A WORD FOR QUIET. "Let the. counsel of thine own heart | stand, for there is no man more faithful with thee than it." Words of wisdoin tilrcse, that we shall do well to ponder over before beginning the rush of the summer season, those crowded months of pleasure and work, the memory of which is sometimes embittered bv the knowledge of what "they have said." We have only lo let the "counsel of our own heart stand" and gain a tranquillity that, will leave us untouched by the' fear of what peopli. will say. it was Marcus Aurelius who wrote:'"! affirm that tranquillity is no'thing else than the good ordering of the mind."

It is u certain thing that, if wo ever gain t'liis ideal of pence and joy, "a good ordering of the mind." we shall neither tare for what "they"' say, nor. and this is even more important, shall wo so adversely and unkindly criticise other people. ' It is easy to say something slighting instead of something kind, and yet the latter quickly heroines a liahit also, and we lincl to our delight that we feel far .more comforta'blo after saying kind things tlinn being what we women usually call "catty." JimCNDIiRSTAXDIXG. 'As to what "they say," well, whit does an adveree opinion matter if we know ws nit- doing what is right, or, indeed, if we know \vc only want to he doing what is right? Supposing we are misunderstood, does that matter? Let us say with the great Emerson—"MisI understood! ft is a right fool's word. Is it. so iliad, then, to be misunderstood?" And let His risk being misunderstood rather than study the bugbears of conventional opinion; and if we are sure we are doing what is' right, let us ci, deavor to be servile to none, to defer to none, not to any tyrant known or unknown. It is only by ignoring petty slander and gosaip, and only by going steadily forward when Ave know that we are right, that we shall ever gain the lightness of heart any joyous spirit that Walt Whitman describes eo perfectly when he writes:— "Afoot and light-hearted, I take the open roiul, Henceforth 1 ask not good fortune—l .myself am fortune, Henceforth 1 whimper no more, post•pone no more, need nothing, Done with indoor complaints', libraries, querulous criticisms. Strong and content, I travel the Opel road." Let us live these words in so far as in us lies, until, in living our fear of . what people say, and our fear of failure, ■ nnd our dread of new ideas and "qiicrui lons criticisms," we too take the open ■ road both "strong and content."

CHILDREN'S SORROWS. Tt is one of the hinppies't as well as one of b!ie most pathetic things in childnature Unit to them tile unrealities of imagination are so real. A sorrow is a tragedy to a little child, a Borrow without hope, and yel. like the shower'? and sunshine of April, falling tears are soon replaced by radiant smiles, while cheeks are still wet, and (he little breast is heaving with an only half-suppressed sol). To children "play" is sonictliiuj, earnest— a .tilling that we, .who sometimes affect iliorcdoin, might welJ be inclined to copy. How children love "pretending." We grown-ups pretend, too; but we seldom like it, for we .pretend ■\\v are glad when we are sorry, and we pretend to be amused, ami even, alas! lireteud to love; but to children there is no pretence, for play is reality.